


Temporal Accident-Induced Anxiety

by magniloquentChanteuse



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ancestors, Gen, M/M, OC trolls as necessary, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-01-10 15:36:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1161507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magniloquentChanteuse/pseuds/magniloquentChanteuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To find a lost artifact that might help defeat Lord English, Karkat, Kanaya, and Terezi must travel back in time to Alternia to search for it. Unfortunately, they don't show up exactly when they expected to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Trolls: Enter

"Why do we have to do this?" You're practically growling, muscles tense with anxiety.

  
"Because I believe there's an artifact lost on Alternia that will help us to defeat Lord English," Rose explains patiently. "I would go myself, but, as a human, there's no way I'd be able to blend in long enough to search it out." You want to protest further, to demand that there must be some other way to beat him. You desperately don't want to go back to Alternia. But you know that if there were another way, safer, easier, more convenient, Rose would have suggested that first, and as the ex-leader of your party, you need to step the fuck up and help, whether you want to or not.

  
"You won't be alone, Karkat," Kanaya assures you, one hand finding a place on your shoulder. You almost shrug her off, but at the last moment you decide to let her keep it there. You could frankly use the support right now.

"Right! We'll be with you!" Terezi practically screeches in your ear, making you flinch.

"Yeah, I know! Back up, asshole, you're going to blow my fucking eardrums out."

"You're one to talk about blowing out eardrums," Dave replies smoothly. "Your shouty asshole-ishness far outweighs hers."

"What the fuck ever, Strider." You huff irritably. "Let's just fucking do this, alright?"

"Right." Dave straightened from where he was leaned casually against the wall. "Not much point in waiting. I won't be able to stick around, since I'm human, so you guys need to come back to the drop off point every two days to check in, alright? I'll be there at the same time as I drop you off for an hour. Don't be late." The three of you nod agreement and he nods curtly back at you. "Alright, let's do this. Grab on, ladies, gentlemen." Kanaya holds his shoulder as Terezi fixes her vise-like grip on his upper arm, leaving you to take hold of his other shoulder. He glances over at you and you realize he can feel you shaking, can feel your stress in the grip on his shoulder. You're close enough to see his eyes through his shades, crinkled sympathetically for just a moment before he turns back forward. "See you in a sec, Rose."

"Good luck, everyone." She smiles encouragingly, gaze lingering on Kanaya, and then she's gone. There's a moment of sensation that you can't describe and then you slam into the ground and fall to your knees, gasping.

"What the fuck was that?" You demand, panting.

"Sorry," Dave is the only one standing. Terezi is sprawled flat on her back and Kanaya is on her butt, looking dazed. "Time stream doesn't really like non-time players hanging out in it. "

"Apparently so," Kanaya agrees breathlessly. "Well. I suggest...a few moments of rest before we set out."

"Sounds good," Terezi agrees.

"Well, I'd better get out of here, if you guys are alright?" Dave looks around at the three of you.

"We're good," You nod, swallowing as you slowly collect yourself and stand.

"Alright. See you night after tomorrow, then. Remember, don't be late." And then he's gone, leaving the three of you prone in the grass in the Alternian night. You're all silent for a few minutes, just catching your breath and orienting yourselves.

"So," Kanaya says quietly. "We're back home."

"Home," You agree. "When do you think we are?"

"I bet our hives are still here!" Terezi enthuses suddenly, sitting up, her grin wide and excited. "We should go find them!"

"We don't know where the fuck we are," You glower at her. "How the fuck are we supposed to find our hives when we don't have a god damned clue where Strider stranded us?"

"Calm down, Karkat," Kanaya says gently, looking over at you. "Look: I think there's light over that way." She points off to the side and you look. A long line of dim light out on the horizon.

"A city?" You suggest, frowning a little.

"Sounds like exactly what we're looking for!" Terezi hops to her feet. "Let's get going!" Kanaya nods and stands, too, and you follow suit as she brushes herself off. You start walking and the others follow in silence. It's very quiet out here; no one appears to have built a hive this far out of the city, and there aren't even any visible luscii wandering the grasslands around you, to your relief. The dark night sky stretches forever above you, and both moons are full. You hadn't realized how much you missed the sight of your own sky. You walk for hours, and you find yourself tiring more than you would have before Sgrub. You're really out of shape from hanging out on the meteor all the time. You sigh a little. Just then, Kanaya speaks up.

"Why don't we take a short break?" She suggests. "We should keep our strength up for when we're back among other trolls."

"Good plan," You agree, and Terezi nods. You look over at her. It's unusual of her to be so quiet. "Terezi? Are you feeling alright?" She nods quickly and you frown, watching her sit.

"It's just," She's frowning, too, staring down at her knees. "I was thinking about my hive. If we do find it, I'll see it. Actually see it, for the first time in a long time. I don't know how I feel about that." She looks up. "What if we see ourselves? I don't remember seeing myself, but I'm no time player, maybe that's not how it works, you know?" You and Kanaya stare for a moment, then slowly seat yourselves. It's definitely weird for Terezi to be this introspective, especially outwardly. You look down at your hands.

"I get what you mean. I don't know how I feel about seeing Crabdad or my hive again," You admit. "On one hand, it would be fucking awesome, right? Back home again, seeing our luscii, all that shit. But on the other, we'd just have to leave them again."

"It would be nice to see home," Kanaya agrees wistfully. "But...I think we should avoid them if we come across them, for the sake of the mission. We might be tempted to stay, and that can't happen. " You and Terezi nod your agreement. There are several long minutes of silence as you rest your legs, until eventually Terezi speaks again.

"Let's get going." So you do.


	2. Chapter 2

The three of you enter the city and immediately realize something's off. Your muscles tighten with horror as you stare around you and realize that, instead of trolls your own size, you're surrounded by adults. Towering, bulky, potentially murderous adults.

"Stay calm," You hear Kanaya whisper. "There's got to be some explination for this."

"Maybe the fleet came back?" Terezi suggests uncertainly.

"The fleet was never here while we were," You hiss back at her. "Where the fuck are we?"

"This is definitely Alternia," Kanaya murmurs. "The moons. Maybe the right question is when."

"Strider!" You growl. "That asshole stuck us in the wrong time period!

"Not necessarily," Kanaya begins, but Terezi interrupts.

"We should walk," She gives you both a little push. "Act natural! Like we belong here." She strides off confidently, leaving you and Kanaya to hurry after her.

"As I was saying," Kanaya speaks up a little. There's no reason not to; the trolls around you are all clamoring, talking and shouting and generally raising hell. You find it kind of terrifying; you've never been around adult trolls before, and you never thought you'd see this many in once place. You force yourself to listen to Kanaya. "We don't know what time period the weapon is in. Maybe it's this one and Dave didn't realize that it wasn't our own."

"Or maybe he just decided not to tell us!" Terezi cackles. "Classic Dave!"

"No, I don't think so," Kanaya says quickly, seeing the twich in your eye. If you thought for a moment Dave did this on purpose, you would strangle the bastard. "It was probably a mistake. Now, we should probably -oof!" She is staring at you, so she doesn't see the burly blueblood that steps out in front of her. She turns and stares down at the three of you, snarling.

"Grubs should watch their place and stay out of my way," She snarls, reaching for Kanaya. Your friend gasps and without even thinking your sickles are in your hand and a long blue scratch is welling up with blood on the older troll's arm. She howls and turns on you and you hear Terezi screech,

"Run!" You see her out of the corner of your eye, grabbing Kanaya by the wrist and hauling her around the highblood. Kanaya grabs you and jerks you after her and the three of you sprint through the crowd, the furious roar of the adult indicating that she's following. You glance over your shoulder and see her behind you, shoving past the people the three of you are ducking around. She's catching up.

"Faster!" You yelp, pushing Kanaya ahead of you. They dodge around a gaggle of greenbloods and you move to follow, but they walk in front of you and you feel a hand close on the back of your shirt.

"Come here, you little shit," You hear the raspy voice of the female troll and you grit your teeth to choke back a scream as she drags you backwards. Then she's lifting you into the air and you see Kanaya and Terezi watching you with horror. You wave a sickle frantically at them.

"Go!" You don't watch to see if they do, you just struggle, trying to slash at the arm holding you up. You feel your blade make contact and you hear her growling with pain and fury and she lowers you a little to snatch for the offending sickle, but you see your opportunity and slash the other at her eyes. She bellows and drops you, making you cry out as your ankle twists under you. Fuck. No, fuck. You can't have a twisted ankle, you have to run. You have to get away, you'll die if you don't-

"Grab on!" A hand is shoved into your face and you look up to see...Sollux? You gape, but realize this isn't the time. You grab his hand and he hauls you up and onto his back. It occurs to you then that he's big, way too big to be Sollux. You look up at his horns and they're taller. His hair is different. Who the hell is this and why is he helping you? It occurs to you that maybe he just wants to kill you himself, but that's fucking stupid so you dismiss the thought. He's silent for a few minutes as he runs, but you notice a few discrete sparks flashing around his eyes and you realize that they're on you, too; he's using psionics to make you lighter, you think.

"Who are you?" You speak almost directly into his ear and he glances back at you warily.

"Can't talk now," He rebukes you a little breathlessly. "Anyone could be listening. Just hang on, I'm taking you somewhere safe." You blink as you realize he has Sollux's lisp, too.

"My friends!" You remember Kanaya and Terezi out there somewhere.

"They'll be okay for now," He promises. "We'll send someone out to look for them when we get back."

"Back where?"

"Fuck, grubby, shut up, okay? We can talk later." You fall silent and tighten your arms a little around his neck as he speeds up. Okay. You guess you'll find out who this asshole is later.

He carries you for maybe fifteen minutes into a clearly less populated section of the city before he jogs into an alley and carefully sets you down. He slumps to the ground, panting.

"You're kind of heavy, grubby."

"Stop calling me that, shithead," You growl. "I'm not a grub. I'm seven."

"Ooh, a real grown up troll," His teasing sounds so like Sollux's. "I'm so impressed."

"Fuck off, assface," You snap, crossing your arms. "Just because I'm not some gangly giant like you doesn't mean I'm some kid."

"The fuck is a kid?"

"Um. Nevermind." Apparently you've gotten into the habit of using human words. You should cut that out now that you're on Alternia, at least for a while. You slide down the wall across from him.

"Whatever." He's studying you.

"The fuck are you looking at me like that for?"

"You look a lot like him, but you sure don't act like him." He snorts to himself, shaking his head.

"Who?"

"The Signless, moron."

"The Thinleth, huh?" You make a face as he laughs at your mockery. This guy has a thick skin. "Whatever. Who's the Signless?" That just makes him laugh harder.

"Where the fuck have you been, wriggler? He's the leader of the revolution!" You raise your hands in bafflement.

"I have no fucking idea what you're talking about."

"Damn," He shakes his head. "You must live under a rock." You snort and shake your head, too.

"Not exactly. Tell me what's going on, though."

"It's a revolution, like I said. Lowbloods fighting for equality with the highbloods." You gape at him.

"Seriously?" Are you in the future? "Why are all these adults on-planet? Because of the revolution?" He raises an eyebrow at you.

"What do you mean?"

"The Empress..." The Empress sent all the adults on imperial conquest sweeps and sweeps ago. You're not in the future, you begin to rationalize the thought. Alternia is gone. There's no way this is the future. That leaves the past, which means you just...haven't heard of this revolution for some reason? "Nevermind. And you said this Signless guy is leading it?"

"Right. He looks a lot like you, which is part of the reason I picked you up." He shrugs a little. "I would have tried to help anyway, a massive bitch like her shouldn't have been fucking around with a midget like you lowblood or not, but I couldn't let her kill you with you looking so much like him."

"Gee, thanks. I'm so flattered." You frown a little.

"No offence. Just imagine if you were in my place. If some guy who looked just like your best friend was getting knocked around, wouldn't you help?" You end up staring at him for several moments in silence, marveling again in his resemblance to Sollux.

"Yeah," You eventually agree. "I would."

"Good." He leans across the narrow space to slap your shoulder a little. "Then we're on the same page. Can you walk?" The abrupt change in topic takes you aback for a moment, but then you stand, putting weight on your food.

"Not quickly," you admit with a wince. "But I can."

"Alright. Let's walk for a bit, then I'll carry you again when you get tired."

"Don't worry about me," You lift your chin. "I'll be fine."

"Whatever you say," He grins a little, apparently amused by you. "Let's get going. I want to get you back to HQ so Signless can see you. He'll get a kick out of the resemblance, I think. Plus, it'll be good for you to have a safe place to recoup if you need it."

"Right," You agree warily. You don't particularly like him knowing that you're basically down for the count. "Well, thanks, I guess."

"Sure thing." He stands, too, and waves you forward.

"And you said we can send someone to look for my friends when we get there, right?" You demand.

"Right," he agrees readily. "Wouldn't want them on their own out there for long if they're as clueless as you are, so we'd better hurry up."

"Okay." You hurry after him, twisted ankle stabbing shards of pain up your leg with every other step. You need to get back together with Kanaya and Terezi before you're supposed to meet Dave again.

And you have to admit, you're interested in meeting this Signless guy.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time the yellowblood who rescued you stops and knocks on a door, you’re slumped against his back, arms back around his neck. You’re in an all but abandoned part of the city now, you haven’t seen anyone for quite a while. You hear a voice on the other side of the door and the adult under you answers, but you miss what he said. Then the door slides open and a burly rustblood stands on the other side. He ushers the two of you inside the hive, and closes the door behind you.

“I’m putting you down now, grubby,” the yellow trolls tells you with a grunt, and you side down his back to the floor, careful not to put your weight on your bad ankle.

“Where are we?”

“A safehouse,” He tells you as the rustblood goes back to guarding the door. You can see him glancing at you frequently, though, and it puts you on edge. “ We’re here for a few days while we find a good place for the Signless to speak, then we’ll move on.”

“Oh,” You shift subtly to put the lanky yellow troll between you and the other adult. “Hey, so, are you going to tell me your name yet, fuckwad?” He snickers.

“Sure, grubby. I’m the Psiioniic. Who are you?”

“I’m Karkat.” You seem somewhat underwhelming compared to him.

“Well, Karkat, I’ve got to go talk to the Signless. You good waiting out here?” He must catch the look on your face, because he speaks again before you answer. “On second thought, come with me. You’re probably tired, right? I bet we can find you a ‘coon to use. C’mon.” He turns and leads the way further into the hive, and you limp after him, leaving the frankly creepy asshole behind.

The Psionic leaves you in a room about the size of your own respiteblock from your first six sweeps, but that’s where the similarities end. The room is cold and empty of personal touches, with only a recuperacoon and a small, empty chest. There’s another door off to the side, which you peek into and find an ablutions block. You step inside and lock the door behind you, letting out a shuddering sigh. Once you’re used the facilities, you press your back to the door and slide to the ground. As much as you’d love to use the recuperacoon, you don’t know anyone here and any of them could ambush you while you were knocked out, so you stay where you are.

You jerk awake suddenly at a knock on the door.

“You in there, grubby?” You recognize the voice of the yellowblooded troll from before.

“Uh,” You run a hand over your face. You must not have been asleep long, you didn’t have any dayscares. “Yeah. Hang on.” You hastily pull yourself to your feet and check yourself in the mirror. You look like shit, as per usual. You shake your head in disgust, then steele yourself and open the door. He raises an eyebrow at you.  
“I thought you’d be asleep by now,” He looks you up and down. “Something wrong?”

“I wasn’t tired,” You lie curtly, and by the way he snorts, he knows it wasn’t true.

“Whatever. Signless told me to let you sleep if you were already konked out. Since you’re not, though, let’s go see him.” You stare at him for a moment, then nod quickly.

“Okay. Let’s go.” You stride purposfully past him, but then once you reach the open door you realize you don’t know where you’re going, so you stop and look back at him. He looks amused. Smug asshole, just like Sollux.

“I sent some trolls out to look for your friends, by the way,” He informs you, and your chest tightens. You can’t believe you forgot about Terezi and Kanaya.

“Oh.” You stare at him for a moment. “Okay. Thanks.” You feel so fucking awkward and useless around him. How the hell do you even talk to adults? You push the question out of your mind as he strolls past you and out the door, leading the way down the hallway.

“Signless is excited to meet you,” He speaks after a moment. You don’t know what to say to that, but that’s okay since apparently he wasn’t done talking anyway. “He’s always happy to meet people, but he’s got this stupid idea that you might be his descendant, despite the fact that he’s only been of age for like, five sweeps. Everyone knows it takes way longer than that for a mothergrub to process that shit.” He shoots you a glance as he stops beside the door, hand on the handle. “What do you think, grubby?”

“Stop calling me that.” You snap. “I don’t believe in ancestors. Is he in here?” You push his hand out of the way and jerk the door open, chin held high.

You immediately regret your bold entry as a group of seven or eight adult trolls look up at you from where they’re gathered around a table. You stiffen as your eyes flit over them. Your eyes widen as you stare at someone who looks undeniably like Kanaya. And jesus tits, she looks just fucking like Nepeta.

Even if you hadn’t seen the proof that ancestors exist, if you hadn’t created them yourself in the ectobiology lab, you would have to believe in them now.

Then a troll stands and your eyes are drawn to him and holy shit, those are your horns, your hair,  that’s your face, staring right the fuck at you, except that his expression is full of awe and excitement while yours is drawn with confusion and anxiety. You examine each other at the same time. He’s taller than you, now that you’re taking the time to look. He’s short, for an adult, but an adult nonetheless. He’s wearing some kind of cloak with the hood down. You suddenly realize that he’s not the only one staring at you, and your eyes flit back around the table, tensing further. You take a step back and bump into the Psionic.

“Hey, calm down, grubby,” He pats your shoulders, then steers you towards the table despite your urge to dig your heels into the ground and stay away from all of them. “Sign, say something, you’re scaring the wriggler shitless.”

“No I’m not!” You growl, then realize that doesn’t make sense and you correct yourself. “He isn’t! I’m fine.” Not-Kanaya presses a hand to her mouth in what looks like an attempt to conceal a smile. Damnit.

“Peace, friend,” The Signless speaks and you look at him. He looks like he might cry from joy. “None among my company will harm you.” You watch him warily as he takes a step towards you, arms opening. “We welcome you.” He looks like he’s about to hug you and oh fuck no. You backpedal away from him hastily, bumping into the yellowblood again, who laughs. The Signless looks a little hurt, but the expression is quickly buried under a smile as his arms lower. “I apologize,” He murmurs. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” You shift a little away from all of them so that if you back up again you won’t be blocked by the Psionic.

“I don’t like to be touched, so keep your hands to yourself, nookstain.” One of the trolls you don’t recognize stands abruptly and your hair lifts automatically, puffing up aggerssively. Not-Nepeta grabs him by the shoulder and shoves him back into his seat, shooting him a scathing glance before turning to look at you.

“He truely does look like you, darling,” Her voice is practically a purr. “But he sounds nothing like you.” You hear the psion snickering.

“That’s what I said, too.” You shoot him a glare and your eyes jerk towards your definitely not-ancestor as he takes a step forward again.

“I was told that you’re injured. Do you need any medical attention?” Oh, right, you actually forgot about your ankle somehow. You shake your head.

“I’ll be fine.” Your voice is tight and wary. You don’t particularly trust any of them, and you think he can tell that. He looks at you for a moment in silence, then gives a nod.

“As you wish. What is your name?”

“Karkat.” You tell him after a beat of silence. His eyes burn with hope.

“What is your last name, Karkat?” You glance around uncertainly before answering.

“Vantas.”

“Vantas,” he breathes, eyes shining with something that takes you a moment to place. It looks like love, although you’re not sure what quadrant that is. “You really are mine.” Not-Nepeta is gaping at you now, the look on her face similar to the one in the eyes of the Signless.

“No,” You growl after a moment. “I’m not yours. I’m my own.”

“Of course,” he agrees quickly. “I didn’t mean to imply what my words did anyway.” His eyes are still warm and excited. “I simply meant that you are my descendant. The product of my contributions to the drones. I never thought for a moment that I would live to see you.” You fidget uncomfortably under his gaze. “I want to know you, Karkat. I would love to know who you are and what you love and what it is that you stand for. Please, sit and talk with me.” He gestures to the seat he was sitting in.

“Fine.” Being around him is making you kind of speechless. You drift over to the table and into the seat he was occupying.

“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” His eyes watch you raptly, like he’s utterly fascinated by you. You give a slight nod. “Allow me to fetch you something to eat.” He turns towards the door, but the Psionic holds a hand up.

“I’ll get it. You sit down and talk to your descendant.”

“Thank you, my friend,” He sounds grateful, though you can’t see his face until the Psionic leaves and he turns back to come back to the table. The Leijon-esque woman shoots a glance at the trolls you don’t recognize, who look a little nervous at the unspoken threat in her eyes. They hastily make excuses and scurry out of the room, leaving you with the Signless and the Leijon and Maryam clones. He catches you looking at the two women and shakes his head. “Forgive me,” He holds a hand out to gesture to the jadeblood. “This is my mother, the Dolorosa.” He looks at the oliveblood. “And my love, the Disciple.”

“That’s kind of egotistical, don’t you think?” You scowl. “Calling her your Disciple?”

“I picked it, kitten,” The Disciple speaks up, amused. “Because that’s what I am. He is my purpose.” You stare at her. That is the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard in real life.Then you’re pulled out of your thoughts by the Signless speaking again.

“How old are you, Karkat?”

“I’m seven,” You turn to look at him again in time to catch his baffled expression.

“Seven?” He and the Disciple exchange a glance. “But I’ve only been contributing for five sweeps.” He turns to look at the Dolorosa. “Mother? Do you have any knowledge on this?”

“He cannot be your descendant if he is seven,” She tells him gently, touching his shoulder.

“But he looks so like me,” His shoulders slump and he looks back at you. “You share my name. How can you not be from me?” You shift uncomfortably in your seat. Should you tell him the truth? You sigh a little. What could the harm be?

“I’m, um, actually from the future?” Oh, that’s the harm. From the looks on their faces, at least the women’s, they think you’re insane.

“The future?” His brow furrows and you nod.

“It’s...alien stuff. We’re playing this game with some aliens and some of them have time powers it’s not a big deal.” This is sounding crazier and crazier. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He nods slowly.

“I will respect that.” He considers for a few moments, and then suddenly his eyes are on you again and he’s puffing up with eagerness. “Karkat,” You can tell he’s trying hard to keep his voice calm. “If you’re from the future, you must know what happens as a result of my revolution!” The Dolorosa is gripping his arm, and the Disciple is leaning towards you. “Karkat, please,” He watches you, full of energy. “Tell me. Is the hemospectrum abolished? Is there equality among trollkind?”

Oh, shitfucking hell.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Your name is Kanaya Maryam and you’re pressed behind a building with your friend Terezi, gasping for breath. It’s been several hours since you arrived in the city, and a certain highblooded adult has been trying to track you down for a while. You managed to evade her by ducking through an alley that Terezi deemed ‘practically unbearable’ to her nose. Your shoes are ruined, but there’s no way she’ll be able to track you now.

“We lost her,” Terezi pants, and you nod.

“Yes,” You drop your head back against the building.

“And Karkat.”

“Yes,” Your teeth grit a little. You hope he’s alright. You can still feel where he pushed you ahead of him, possibly saving you and Terezi from a brutal fate. A fate that he himself may have met in your place. A breath hisses out through your teeth and you see Terezi worrying her lip with her teeth. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s fine,” You assure her after a moment.

“You’re not fooling anyone, Kanaya.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool,” She looks back towards the street, and both of you are silent for a while while you try to come up with a course of action.

“I think we should go back to the meeting point,” You eventually suggest. “Karkat will go there if...I mean, when he can.” Terezi nods.

“Okay. Yeah. But it’s going to have to be tomorrow night.”

“Why?” You look over at her and see her pointing towards the sky and you realize that it’s brightening.

“Oh.”

“Oh is right. You may be able to hang out in the sun like a superpowered freak, but I’ve had enough being out in the daylight to last me my whole life. We need to find somewhere to stay until night.”

“Right, of course.” You push yourself away from the building. “I’m honestly not entirely sure what we’ll be able to find.”

“It’ll probably come to us crouching under a box somewhere,” she states matter of factly. “With this many trolls around, there’s no way there are any empty hives.”

“You’re probably right,” You reply distastefully. “As much as I loathe the idea, you can’t stay out in the sun, and it wouldn’t be very prudent for the two of us to separate.”

“Right. Look, we should get going. Time’s wasting!” She gives this little cackle that makes you worry about hysteria, but then she’s trotting off around the building and back onto the street, so you hurry to follow.

You see one or two trolls your age, but even the emptying streets of late night are packed with intimidatingly large trolls.

“Movies never emphasized exactly how large our species gets,” You mumble to Terezi. This is all putting you on edge. She nods, looking around.

“I think this would all be a lot better if I was still blind,” she hisses with frustration and you nod. You open your mouth to speak again, but something attracts your attention out of the corner of your eye. A brownblood, tall and heavily built, is watching the two of you intently.

“I think we’d better move on. Quickly.” You say softly, placing a hand on Terezi’s back to steer her away from the man. You can hear your blood racing in your ears as he takes a step towards you. Oh, hell no. “Go!” You shove her and then the two of you are running again. You dodge around and between adults, through spaces he won’t be able to follow you through.

Ten minutes later finds you crouched in yet another alley.

“Again,” Terezi is practically growling. “We’re getting chased again? These guys are all assholes!”

“I hate this fucking time period.” You wheeze, trying to catch your breath. Although you consider yourself to be in excellent shape, all this fleeing is getting to you. You could really use just a little sip of blood right now. You glance at Terezi, but push the thought out of your mind. You are absolutely not going to even consider asking.

“What the hell are we going to do?” Terezi demands, knuckles going pale from their grip on her cane.

“I’m not sure,” You admit. “I don’t exactly have a plan for any of this. I didn’t think we would get separated. I especially didn’t think we would be outside of our own time period.” You shake your head. “We’ll have to figure out some way to-oh, shit.” The two of you leap to your feet again as the brownblood steps into the alley. She has her blade unsheathed in moments, and your lipstick revs as you heft it up defensively.

“Wait!” He holds up his hands, revealing his lack of weaponry. “I’m here to help you!”

“Help us how?” You demand, chainsaw remaining firmly in place. You don’t intend to be wooed into a false sense of security.

“I was sent to find you! Put your weapons down!”

“I think you probably have us mistaken for someone else,” You reply stiffly. Was it the blueblood? Was this man her lackey?

“I don’t think so,” He frowns a little. “You were described as two young trolls who probably look lost and scared shitless.”

“By whom?” You frown back at him.

“The Psionic. He pulled your friend out of a confrontation with a blueblood, or so I hear.” You hear Terezi gasp and you straighten, chainsaw lowering slightly.

“Karkat’s alright?” Terezi takes a step forward.

“Yeah. The Signless would never let anything happen to someone in his care.”

“The Signless?”

“Yes. Look, it’s getting light. If you don’t want to come see your friend, not to mention get inside, then I’m not going to force you. But if you do, then follow me.” He turns and walks away, leaving the two of you in stunned silence for a few moments.

“It could be a trap,” You comment.

“It could be,” she agrees. “Let’s go.” She trots off after the man, and you follow quickly.

You don’t think he’s lying. You hope he’s not lying. Terezi shoots a glance at you as the two of you fall into step behind the brownblood and she shrugs. You mimic the gesture back at her, turning to face forward again.

Dawn is breaking and Terezi, specifically is looking more and more uncomfortable. You can see the sun out of the corner of your eye, and although it feels nice to you, you know she shouldn't be outside much longer.

"Thank god," You hear her grumble as the man stops and bangs on a door. "Afraid I was gonna go blind again." You hum quietly in acknowledgement of the words, but you're too busy wondering what's on the other side of the door to really think about it.

It swings open, and you tentatively follow the adult inside to find out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> geeze, this did not come easily. i wanted so badly to finish it yesterday but it was just so hard to get anything out for some reason. it's past midnight now. i'm sorry, calypso, i hope you don't mind.  
> gosh i'm tired! i should really get someone to beta this before i post it...

The silence stretches for an uncomfortably long time. The Signless stares at you, eagerness fading into stress. The Disciple is looking more and more irate, while the Dolorosa is just looking down.

“Karkat, please. Whether I succeed or fail, I want to know. Tell me about the future.” You hesitate for another few moments, then open your mouth, but a knock on the door interrupts you. You all turn to look as the door opens and the Psiioniic steps inside, a tray in one hand and a pitcher in the other. He grins cheekily, either not noticing or ignoring the atmosphere in the room.

“Good news,” he walks over to the table and sets the tray down as a familiar face peeks her head around the corner.. “Partisan found your friends, grubby.”  
“Kanaya!” You leap to your feet and her face splits into a wide, relieved smile when she sees you, then she rushes over and throws her arms around you, hugging you tightly. Terezi practically tackles you from the other side and you hug them hard.

“We were so worried about you!” Kanaya gushes, beaming.

“You were?”

“We thought you were dead, stupid!” Terezi punches you in the shoulder, giving you a pointy-toothed grin.

“No, no, I’m fine, shit, I’m so glad you two are okay!” You can’t help grinning back at them. You see Kanaya glance towards the table and then her eyes widen and you groan internally. You don’t want to deal with ancestor bullshit.

“Oh,” She presses a hand daintily to her lips as she stares at the Dolorosa. Then her eyes travel to the Disciple, and then to the Signless. “Karkat, are they…?”

“No. Fuck no. Ancestors aren’t real, damnit.” You scowl and cross your arms, but she doesn’t look discouraged. She looks amazed, and she can’t seem to keep her eyes off her ancestor, who stares right back.

“Hello,” She sounds a little breathless. “My name is Kanaya Maryam.” The Dolorosa’s hand mirror’s Kanaya’s, now, pressed over her mouth in shock. The Signless looks delighted.

“Nice to meet you, dear one.” He smiles at her, and his voice seems to lift the silence from the ancestors. Introductions are made and more chairs are brought into the room so that all of you can crowd around the table. Kanaya is on your right, next to the Dolorosa, and Terezi is on your left, by the Disciple. The Signless sits almost directly across from you, with the Psionic next to him. There’s a few moments of silence which everyone spends staring at each other, and then the Signless speaks.  
“Where are my manners? Please, eat, drink, help yourselves.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Terezi agrees readily, holding her hand out for a plate that the Disciple hands her. “We’ve been running around like lunatics all night!” She starts piling food onto her plate as Kanaya sneaks glances at her ancestor and you just scowl down at the table.

“It’s incredible that the descendants of my dearest and the Dolorosa know each other,” The Disciple comments.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Terezi chortles through a mouthful of bread. “We know,” There’s a pause in which her face falls, the mirth fading, and she swallows before speaking again. “We knew a girl who looked just like you, too.”

“Knew? She died?” The Disciple looks distraught as Terezi nods. There’s a long, solemn silence at the table.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” The Signless eventually murmurs, one hand resting on the arm of his matesprit, who shoots him a sorrowful glance. They both look at you.  
“What happened to her?” The Disciple asked, on your face. You feel guilty and your gaze falls to your hands.. Although you and Nepeta were never close, you feel at least partly responsible for her death.

“One of our other friends killed her.” You mutter, and you feel Kanaya’s hand on your shoulder. You shoot a glance towards her and see the sorrow in her eyes. Because you’re watching her, you miss the look exchanged between the adults.

“I’m sorry,” The Signless says again.

“It’s in the past,” You answer brusquely, trying to brush off your unhappiness.

“We should make a plan,” Kanaya says abruptly, and everyone looks at her.

“For what?” The Dolorosa asks her. Kanaya looks a little intimidated as she folds her hands in her lap.

“We are here searching for an artifact that will help us to...that will help us.” She states. “We were told that it is here, more or less.” She glances at you for assistance.

“Our time traveling fucktard of a friend dumped us in the wrong time period,” You supply bluntly. “So we don’t really know where we are or where it is.” She and Terezi stare at you, shocked. “Oh, they already know that we’re from the future,” You tell them crossly. “That pawbeast is out of the proverbial bag. No point in being anything but fucking straight with them.”

“I suppose,” Kanaya agrees uncertainly. Terezi just rolls her eyes, shoving a roll into her mouth.

“Anyway,” You continue. “We’ve got to find it, whatever it is, and meet back up with our friend to get back to our own time.”

“What about your leg?” The Signless prompts. “It isn’t smart to travel the city injured.”

“Injured?” Terezi is glowering at you. “You’re hurt and you didn’t say anything?”

“It’s not a big deal,” You snap. “It’s just a little sore. I’m fine.”

“Has anyone looked at it?” Kanaya asks with a frown. 

“No, and no one is going to.” You cross your arms. Everyone here probably already knows your blood color, but you still don’t want to confirm it by showing off any bruises that have formed. “So fuck off.” The Disciple snickers and you glare, but she doesn’t back down.

“I suppose we’ll have to wait until you’re better to begin searching,” Kanaya sighs. “That is, if it’s alright with our ancestors what we stay,” She looks towards them hopefully.

“Of course,” The Signless answers immediately. “This building was abandoned it before we arrived, so it is ours to do with what we wish. It’s not large enough for rooms for all of you, but we can certainly find room for you.”

“Thanks,” Terezi says, swallowing. “It would suck to get booted out in the middle of the day.”

“We would never, little one,” The Disciple assures her. “The Signless preaches kindness to the young as well amongst the blood castes. Even if we hated you, he would never allow it.” The Signless laughs a little and leans over to kiss her cheek lightly.

“That’s right. You’re safe here, my friends.” He agrees. You shoot a glance towards Kanaya, who shrugs just slightly at you. Terezi gives the two of you an encouraging smile, and you sigh.

“Alright. Fine. We’ll stay. Thanks.” You cross your arms. “We’re tired.”

“I’m not-” Terezi protests.

“Well we’re going to fucking go to a room by ourselves to talk without some goddamned adults listening in, then!” You growl with frustration, standing. “Where are we sleeping? The room I was before?” Everyone stares at you for a few moments, then the Signless stands. 

“I’ll show you where to stay.”

“Fine.” You keep your arms folded over your chest as your friends stand, too. “Let’s go.” The Signless looks a little unhappy, but he leads the way out of the room and down the hall. “If you want to share, you can stay here,” He offers. “If not, there is a second room downstairs that’s a little smaller that one of you could stay in.”  
“This is fine,” Kanaya answers before you can.

“Yeah, thanks.” Terezi agrees, watching you. You scowl at her.

“Well then, good morning.” The Signless bows his head and the two girls turn and step into the room. “Karkat,” he says before you can do the same. “May I talk to you for just a few moments?” You hesitate, then huff, closing the door between you and your friends.

“What do you want?” You demand.

“I just wanted to apologize for making you angry,” he murmurs. “And for frightening you. I just want you to know that you’re safe here. I will do everything in my power to keep you and your friends safe while you are under my protection. And if you want any help, any at all, all you have to do is ask. I will be happy to assist you in any way that I can.”

“I don’t have anything to give you for it,” you inform him curtly.

“I am not looking for payment. I just want to make sure that my descendant has what he needs to succeed,” His voice lowers further and he glances around to make sure the two of you are alone. “I want us both to succeed, Karkat, no matter how impossible our missions may seem as they spread out in front of us.” He’s watching you hopefully, and you suddenly realize that he wants you to tell him the future.

“Right,” you say slowly. You can’t. You don’t like him, but you find it impossible to tell him that he fails when he’s staring at you like that. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind. I’m going in. Good morning.”

“Good morning,” he echoes, frowning. You hastily step through the door and out of the line of his disappointed gaze.


End file.
